âDay of the Womanâ (Meir Zarchiâs
original title for âI Spit on Your Graveâ) from 1978
lives in infamy as one of the most, if not the most extreme and
well-known rape-revenge films to ever tarnish the silver
screen. To coincide with the Blu-Ray release of the 2010
remake, Anchor Bay Entertainment delivers an incredible Blu-Ray
of one notorious horror film.

âI Spit on Your Graveâ commences with Jennifer Hills
(Camille Keaton, "Sella Turcica") making her way to a cabin in
the countryside where she plans to write her first novel.
Immediately after arriving at her destination of novelist
solitude, she disrobes and takes a dip in the lake on the
property. Thus begins the filmâs titillating yet unavoidably
disturbing storyline.

Settling right in, Jennifer sunbathes in a hammock overlooking
the serene lakefront and attempts to get some work done on her
book. This is thwarted by some rowdy local men who speed around
the lake in a motorboat. Later on when the antics die down, she
goes for a canoe ride. The men return to escalate the
tomfoolery and terrorize her further by circling her canoe in
their speedboat, dragging her along the open water. This
solidifies the debauchery which is to follow with almost a half
hour of rape and degradation.

What makes the infamous rape scene exceedingly ruthless is that
the boys let her crawl back to her cabin of solace, to return
shortly thereafter for round two. This is where the other two
males continue their fun (one of whom is retarded.) With one of
the remaining men, Jennifer pleads in a chilling scene âPlease,
Iâm hurt. Iâll do it to you with my hand. Youâll like it,
youâll see.â He responds by kicking the shit out of her
rather than raping her. Which leaves the question, whatâs
worse? This comprehensive rape sequence makes for one of the
most, if not the most brutal hard to stomach rape sequences ever
committed to film.

After the men have their exhaustive way with their victim they
exit the cabin but send Matthew-the-retard back to seal the
deal. The ringleader gives the âhalf idiotâ a knife to
kill Jennifer. Once back inside to the scene of the crime he
canât commit. Instead he returns to the creeps with the knife
smeared with some of her blood, claiming the deed has indeed
been executed.

Next, we follow Jennifer as she endures the recuperation
process. Over time she actually moves forward and continues
onward with her novel. However, Jennifer has more than her
novel in store. It wouldnât be a rape-revenge film without
vicious retribution. One by one Jennifer hunts down her
offenders. Using her sexuality to lure them in, she leaves a
bloody trail of bodies behind her.

Most horror films rely far too heavily on a musical score to
evoke horror; to blindly tell the viewer with a blare of music
that âitâs time to feel scared.â âI Spit on your Graveâ
is devoid of music. It relies purely on the direction of the
film and its visuals to eviscerate the viewer.

Shooting âI Spit on Your Graveâ must have been grueling
for Camille Keaton, not to mention the rest of the cast and
crew. While both playing the role of the victim and victor,
Keaton exhibits her true strengths as an actress. One notable
scene in which I particularly love contains neither the rape nor
the revenge. This particular scene depicts Jennifer as she goes
to a church to pray for her forgiveness (for the violence that
is to come).

Meir Zarchi claims the film is a film that
empowers women. His original title âDay of the Womanâ
suggests this. However, Zarchiâs sentiments are only half
right. âI Spit on Your Graveâ does empower the character
of Jennifer after she is able to recover from her mass
violation, and how she ultimately responds with vengeance.
However it is the ultimate exploitation film because âI Spit
on Your Graveâ sets out to titillate the viewer as much as
it does to perturb. Whether Zarchi admits to this or not is
another story. Regardless of Zarchiâs intent, âDay of the
Womanâ is a favorite of mine and any like-minded
exploitation fan. It stands the test of time as being one of
the best pieces of exploitation cinema out there.

Anchor Bay Entertainment brings "I Spit on Your Grave" to
Blu-ray (as well as DVD) 1080p with a 1.78:1 anamorphic
widescreen presentation. The disc is 50GB with a MPEG-4 AVC and
looks great for a 33-year-old exploitation film. The only video
downfall is that a few night scenes showcase incredibly flickery
digital noise. The audio is presented English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
with an option of English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
The audio is soft in places but is more than sufficient. The
supplemental features are plentiful here beginning with audio
commentaries from writer/director Meir Zarchi as well as Joe Bob
Briggs. There is an informative interview with Zarchi called
'The Values of Vengeance: Meir Zarchi Remembers I Spit on your
Grave' which runs 29-minutes. This release also contains a
'Poster & Stills Gallery,' 'Radio Spots,' 'TV Spots,' 'Trailers'
and an 'Alternative Main Title' sequence for "Day of the
Woman." While these extras are great, it would have been
nice if this release included an in-depth interview with Camille
Keaton.

Also as an unfortunate note, this
release contains one of those awful "eco-friendly" Blu-Ray cases
made by VIVA ELITEâ¢
with the recycling holes making the case extremely flimsy and
rendering it useless. If consumers want to keep the disc and
artwork protected then you'll probably have to shell out more
dough to buy an alternate "normal" Blu-Ray case.